As a result of rising fuel costs and emissions concerns, the transportation industries are looking for cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives for powering vehicles. In particular, this has resulted in the development of electrically powered locomotives, including hybrid and electric locomotives.
In traditional consist arrangements, the power storage and control of each locomotive may be controlled separately. In traditional consists including hybrid and/or electric locomotives, each locomotive may be responsible for providing and controlling its own battery power. Requiring each locomotive to manage its own battery control may have several limitations. For example, where the sum of the maximum power requirements of each locomotive in a consist exceeds the maximum power requirements of the consist, the locomotives must have sufficient power capacity to meet their individual maximum requirements, as power cannot be shared among the locomotives. Furthermore, in consists in which a locomotive has the ability to generate more power than it requires (e.g., from regenerative braking), that excess power cannot be transferred to other locomotives that may be able to use that power.
One solution for energy management of hybrid locomotives is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,758 B2 (“the '758 patent”). The '758 patent is directed to a hybrid energy locomotive system having an energy storage and regeneration system that may purportedly be located in a separate energy tender vehicle. According to the '758 patent, the energy storage and regeneration system captures dynamic braking energy, excess motor energy, and externally supplied energy and stores the captured energy in one or more energy storage subsystems, including a flywheel, a battery, an ultra-capacitor, or a combination of such subsystems. The energy storage and regeneration system can be located in a separate energy tender vehicle, which is optionally equipped with traction motors. An energy management system is responsive to power storage and power transfer parameters, including data indicative of present and future track profile information, to determine present and future electrical energy storage and supply requirements. The energy management system controls the storage and regeneration of energy accordingly.
Although the system and method disclosed in the '758 patent may store and regenerate energy on a locomotive, the system and method disclosed in the '758 patent may still suffer from a number of possible drawbacks. For example, the system and method disclosed in the '758 patent requires that each locomotive has its own designated energy storage system, which prevents the free transfer of energy among locomotives in a consist. For example, the system disclosed requires a consist using this system to power additional controls and carry additional components. Therefore, it may be desirable to provide an energy distribution system and method that enables transfer of energy among locomotives in a consist.
The presently disclosed systems and methods may mitigate or overcome one or more of the above-noted drawbacks and/or other problems in the art.